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Yeup. For a good part of the population its week, especially Holy Weekend, when people head out to resorts by the beach or in the mountains. Other people spend it the countryside where they grew up with their extended families. Others goes to local rivers a spend the day there with their friends or family. Others are very religious, which is the origin of the holiday.

Tomorrow is a special days because in almost all Dominican household (doesn’t matter if its rich, middle class, or poor; if it lives in the city or in the country; they can be college educated or barely made it to sixth grade; lives in the DR or outside of it; etc); they make habichuelas con dulce as a treat after the main meal. I also became aware that its a learned taste and only Dominicans do this as a cultural tradition. Tomorrow is the day for this. Even the cookies with the Latin cross in the middle made from milk are the same. Casabe bread (the bread of the Taino indians) is sometimes added.

In Latin America, do people turn Holy Week into a party like they do in southern Spain?

The trouble with Spain, and much of the rest of Europe (and Latin America), is that the church has historically been tied up (in bed) with the State. So, a Roman Catholic holy day or feast day became a state-sponsored or royalty-sponsored holiday (= holy day) in Catholic-majority countries. The holiday outlived the "holy day" for many Spaniards, Europeans, and Latin Americans... and USA-ers as well... so, what was once a holy day (or week) is now a party.

In the U.S.A., Catholicism has been Protestantized or "sanitized" if you will, similar to Judaism (Reform Judaism). Many of the "folk" (for lack of a better term) aspects of Catholicism have fallen away. I went with a friend to his home town in Aibonito, Puerto Rico (central mountain region) during a Catholic feast day. They had some kind of processional parade from the town square. That would be very foreign to U.S.-born and raised Catholics. There's probably a lot of variation from country to country in Latin America. Highly indigenous areas probably have the greatest "folk" Catholic practices... whereas perhaps Argentinians may be more Italianesque in their Catholicism, if they practice Catholicism at all.

It depends on the country. Uruguay has very much division of church and state, but the DR is the complete opposite.

In Uruguay they even changed the name of many originally Catholic holidays. The church has zero influence on the government. No masses are made on each inaugurations, each church is maintained through its own donations, etc. The Uruguayan government is completely atheist.

In the DR the Archbishop of Santo Domingo is asked about everything by the President, every inauguration includes a small mass by the local priest, every Sunday and holiday the President has to go mass in the First Cathedral of the New World in Santo Domingo. The Catholic Church is the official government and every Catholic church is maintained by the government. There’s even Christ on the cross in front of the Supreme Court of the country; and Christ on the cross plus the Virgin of Highest Grace painting is in the President’s office.

In Spain it now has a division of church and state. The church has zero influence on the government, but its not as radical as Uruguay.

In most governments in Latin America the Catholic church is very close, but not as close as it is in the DR. There’s no division of church and state in the DR, and the people like it like that. In the satelice of Santo Domingo you can see the Christian cross in many buildings (for example, the National Theater in Ave Máximo Gómez), in monuments and parks (for example, the Monument to the Flag by a big traffic circle on Ave 27 de Febrero) built by the government. Everybody pays for this, including all tourist, via their taxes.

The holiday outlived the "holy day" for many Spaniards, Europeans, and Latin Americans... and USA-ers as well... so, what was once a holy day (or week) is now a party.

This is not an accurate statement. Latin America and Spain are very religious places, even today. People are very devout and take things like holy week seriously. What you don't understand is that hispanic culture doesn't separate "having a good time" from "religion" in the same way that Puritan-based religions do. In South America, you'll find people (young and old) yesterday and last week getting together to pray in their homes, and going to Mass, and the very same day you'll find the same people drinking and partying. They do both with equal fervour.

This is not an accurate statement. Latin America and Spain are very religious places, even today. People are very devout and take things like holy week seriously. What you don't understand is that hispanic culture doesn't separate "having a good time" from "religion" in the same way that Puritan-based religions do. In South America, you'll find people (young and old) yesterday and last week getting together to pray in their homes, and going to Mass, and the very same day you'll find the same people drinking and partying. They do both with equal fervour.

You are right... Latin Catholic countries/societies have a long tradition of partying around holy days... New Orleans' Mardi Gras is a good example of that!

You are also right that Puritan-infused religion/thought rejects "hedonism"... a term which one could argue over.

I see the difference in religious heritage play out in Canada. Although no longer actively Catholic, polls have shown French-speaking Quebeckers value having pleasure over taking personal responsibility by a wide margin and in a way that is the opposite from English-speaking Canadians in other, historically Protestant-majority provinces.

I also think that this religious heritage or cultural baggage is what keeps, in part, Latin America from higher levels of economic development. Argentinians are well-educated, for example, but they squander a lot of their energies over pursuing the "pleasure" principle.

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